Jet propelled boat steering apparatus



A ril 26, 1966 R, B. ADAMS ETAL 3,247,567

JET PROPELLED BOAT STEERING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 23, 1963 F/GZ INVENTORS ROBERT F. ADAMS COLEMAN B. M001?! ATTORNEY mechanically operated valve.

3,247,667 JET PROlELLED BOAT STEERING APPARATRE Robert B. Adams, liethayres, and Coleman 13. Moore, Uwchland, Pa, assignors to Moore Products (30., Spring House, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed dept. 23, 1963, Ser. No. 318,739 19 Claims. (Cl. oil-35.54)

In the prior application of Coleman B. Moore for Letters Patent for Boat Steering Apparatus, filed May 16, 1962, Serial No. 195,242, now Patent No. 3,206,928 there is described means for steering a jet propelled boat without the use of movable rudders, deflecting vanes or the like, utilizing the principles of the pure fluid amplifier. In accordance with the disclosure in that application the propelling jet issuing from the stern of the boat was deflected to the right or to the left through the utilization of stream boundary pressure regions which were in turn controlled by the admission of atmospheric air or other fluids through the use of a three Way The apparatus there disclosed was capable of controlling the jet by guiding it to the right or to the left or to intermediate positions but no control was exercised upon the jet that would tend to reverse the jet so that its thrust would be in a direction to drive the boat backward with steering, or to neutralize the action of the jet while permitting continued flow.

' It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a pure fluid controlled structure for controlling the propelling stream of a jet propelled boat for both forward and reverse thrusts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pure fluid controlled apparatus for steering a jet propelled boat with both forward and reverse thrusts as well as thrusts sideward in both the forward and reverse drive conditions.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pure fluid controlled structure for controlling the propelling stream of a jet propelled boat for boat forward and reverse thrusts as well as sidewise steering thrusts in which a very small force is required to guide a high energy jet.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pure fluid interaction jet controlled apparatus for both forward and reverse thrusts, as well as sideward thrusts, which does not require any external source of energy but is capable of operation by the admission of atmospheric air under the control of a valve of simple construction and by utilizing a portion of the fluid of the jet.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus for controlling the propelling stream of a jet propelled boat for both forward and reverse thrusts which is relatively short in the direction of the jet and which has no moving parts in contact with the jet.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus for controlling the propelling stream of a jet propelled boat in which the moving parts are removed from locations where they would be subject to fouling, sticking, corrosion, and the like, under ordinary service pump may be directed simultaneously partly forward and i United States Patent "ice partly aft so that the thrust components will cancel and provide a neutral condition which permits running the engine without propulsion of the boat.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus for controlling the propelling jet of a jet propelled boat for both forward and reverse thrusts which permits the jet to operate at high inlet pressures, particularly in the forward direction.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide steering apparatus with reversing means requiring for its signal only atmospheric air or water available at the pressure of the pump outlet, and without requiring any auxiliary fluid compressors or fluid sources.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide boat steering apparatus in which the controls are inherently safe and incapable of inadvertent sudden switching between full forward and full reverse thrusts.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide boat steering apparatus which is capable of reversing and which proportionally reduces steering effect at high speeds or under choppy and hazardous water conditions.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

The nature and characteristics features of the invention will the more readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of boat steering apparatus in accordance with the invention on the rear transom of a power boat, parts being omitted and parts being shown diagrammatically for facility of explanation;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. 1 and showing the reverse steering passageways;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 and illustrating the forward steering passageways;

FIG. 4- is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2, parts being shown in elevation; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 and showing the transition region between the reversing controls and the forward controls.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, a portion of the bottom 10 of a boat B is shown, having a transom 11 extending rearwardly and upwardly therefrom. The boat B has mounted forwardly of the transom 11 an inlet (not shown) for intake of water, for supply to an engine driven turbine pump 15 whose outlet terminates at a mounting plate 16 on which is mounted in line with the axis of the pump 15, steering control assembly 17. The steering control assembly 17 preferably includes an intermediate body portion 18 and a discharge body portion 19 merely by way of illustration the components of the steering control assembly 17 are illustrated as cast metal bodies with flanges 20, 21 and 22, held together by bolts 23 but any other desired construction could be utilized.

Interiorly of the mounting plate 16 a first or main nozzle 25 is provided, preferably having a width somewhat greater than its height, for discharging a stream of water into the intermediate body portion 18. The nozzle has an upper boundary wall 26 and a lower boundary wall 27. The upper boundary wall 26 is preferably horizontal in the region of the nozzle 25 while the lower boundary wall 27 is inclined upwardly in this region. Adjacent to the discharge edge of the nozzle 25, and at the terminus of the wall 26, an opening 29 is provided in communication with a fluid connection 30. A pipe 31 is connected from the fluid connection to a forward-reverse control valve 32.

Immediately down stream of the lower edge of the nozzle 25, and at the terminus of the wall 27, an opening 33 is provided communicating with a fluid connection 34. A pipe 35 is connected from the fluid connection 34 to control valve 32. The valve 32 is preferably a three way valve. The opposite vertical side walls 36 of the nozzle 25 are preferably plane parallel surfaces and are continued parallel for a short distance into the intermediate body portion 18.

One of the side walls 36 has an opening 37 with which a pipe 38 is in communication, the pipe 38 communicating with a chamber 39 in the valve 32.

The valve 32 has an upper port 40 communicating with the chamber 39 with which the pipe 31 is in communication, has a lower port 41 with which the pipe, 35 is in communication, and has a manually operable plunger 42 alternately opening either port 40 or port 41, or in its intermediate position partially opening both ports 40 and 41.

The intermediate body portion 18 preferably includes an entering section, 43, a transition section 44, and upper and lower discharge nozzle sections 45 and 46. The entering section 43 is preferably of the same general shape as the nozzle 25 except that the upper and lower surfaces 47 and 48 are recessed slightly from the jet.

It will be noted that at this point the jet is wider than its height which facilitates drawing it either in an upward or a downward direction as required for reverse or forward fluid delivery as hereinafter explained.

In the transition section 44, the cross section of the fluid stream is changed from a horizontal band into a vertical band which has a greater height than width, so

' that the newly oriented jet can pass to either of the discharge nozzle section 45 or 46, or partially to each. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the discharge nozzle sections 45 and 46 are each illustrated as having a height of about twice their width.

The intermediate body portion 18 has upper and lower walls 50 and 51 and side walls 52 and 53, and a divider 54 which may be carried Wholly or partially by the discharge body portion 19 and separates the upper stream from the lower stream. The upper and lower walls 50 and 51 and the side walls 52 and 53 assist in guiding the fluid to form a compact stream as it emerges and passes to either or both nozzles 45 and 46.

Downstream of the nozzle 46 and contained within the lower part of the discharge body portion 19, a forward steering chamber 58 is provided. The steering chamber 58 as can be seen in detail in FIG. 3, beyond the nozzle 46 has opposite diverging and then converging side walls 59 and 60, set back from the nozzle 46 at the entrance of the chamber to provide smooth throttling control. The chamber 58 has a flat top wall 61 and a flat bottom wall 62 parallel to the wall 61. The chamber 58, on opposite sides thereof has control ports 63 and 64 connected respectively by pipes 65 and 66 to ports 67 and 69 of a multiported directional valve 69. The valve 69 has a valve plug 70 with a passageway 71 and a valve plug 72 with a passageway 73. The valve plugs 70 and 72 are preferably mechanically connected, as by a linkage 74 for simultaneous movement, the linkage 74 being controlled by the lever positioning the plunger 42.

Downstream of the nozzle 45, the discharge body member 19 at the upper part thereof, is provided with a reverse steering chamber 75. The reverse steering chamber 75,

has diverging side walls 76 and 77, parallel top and bottom walls 78 and 79 and a divider 80 which separates the fluid for flow through a passageway 81 which is forwardly and downwardly turned on one side with a forward discharge end 82, or for flow through the passageway 83 which is forwardly and downwardly turned on the other side with a fonward discharge end 84, or proportioned therebetween. The passageways 83 and 84 are shaped to direct the fluid forwardly and downwardly so that it will not strike any portion of the boat but will be available for rearward propulsion and steering and for neutral action. The reverse steering chamber 75 at the down stream terminus of the nozzle 45, on opposite sides thereof has control ports 85 and 86 connected respectively by pipes 87 and 88 to ports 89 and 90 of the valve 69. The valve 69 is preferably constructed so that in one position of its plugs 70 and 72 the pipes 65 and 66 will be in communication, respectively, with pipes 91 and 92 for forward operation and in its other position the pipes 87 and 88 will be in communication, respectively, with the pipes 91 and 92 for reverse operation.

The pipes 91 and 92 are in communication, respectively, with a jet position control valve 93. The valve 93 has an interior valve chamber 94 with a port 95 to which the pipe 91 extends and a port 96 to which the pipe 92 extends. The valve 93 has a plunger 97 which in one extreme position closes the port 95 and opens the port 96 to the chamber 94, in its other extreme position closes the port 96 and opens the port 95 to the chamber 94 and in its intermediate positions opens both ports 95 and 96 in a proportionate manner to the chamber 94. The chamber 94 has a fluid connection 98 to a source of pressure fluid, which may conveniently be the atmosphere.

The mode of operation will now be pointed out.

The operation will be described with the operation of the forward and reverse control considered separately and then the operation of the port and starboard controls will be described.

Assuming that fluid is supplied by the turbine pump 15 to the main nozzle 25, the forward and reverse control occurs at the outlet of the nozzle 25 where the jet emerges and is biased in a slightly upward direction be cause of the inclination of the wall 27.

If it is desired to propel the boat in a fonward direction it is necessary that the jet emerge through the chamber 58 with a rearward directed velocity. This will be accomplished if the port 40 of the valve 32 is opened to permit fluid to flow from the opening 37 to the opening 29. Since the opening 37 in the housing of the pump 15 is at a region of higher pressure than the exit of the nozzle 25 there will be a flow from the opening 37 to the opening 29. The fluid entering at the opening 29 will impinge against the main fluid stream from the nozzle 25 urging it in a downward direction. At the same time the port 41 is closed so that no fluid can enter through the opening 33. Thus the region immediately below the main jet will be somewhat evacuated because of entrainment and will further assist in lowering the main jet. The main jet will thus be mainly directed through the nozzle 46 for ultimate emergence from the lower or forward steering chamber 58 to impart a forward thrust to the boat B. However the size of the nozzle 46 is such that a very small portion of the main jet spills over into the nozzle section 45 and chamber 75 and maintains a water seal in the upper leg. This water seal prevents entrainment of air which would interfere with the proper action of the controls at the connections 65 and 66 referred to below.

If it is desired to reverse the boat B, the port 40 of the control valve 32 must be closed, opening the port 41. This permits fluid from the opening 37 to be delivered to and be discharged from the opening 33 againstthe under side of the main jet from the nozzle 25, urging it in an upward direction. The jet will also be assisted in the upward direction by the bias imparted by the slope of the wall 27. The port 40 willbe closed so that no fluid can emerge from the opening 29 to make up any that is lost by entrainment, thereby causing a reduction in pressure in the region above the jet. Under these conditions the jet will be directed ulpward toward reverse thrust nozzle 45 provided that the velocity of the jet emerging from nozzle is not too high. At the higher velocities of the liquid jet 25 it will be impossible to bend the liquid jet sharply enough to direct it all to the reverse steering nozzle 45 thereby providing a safety tfiactor which prevents the application of excessive thrust in the reverse direction.

Assume that the control valve 32 is positioned in the forward drive position that is with the port 41 closed, the fluid jet issuing from the nozzle 25 will be directed along the lower channel toward the nozzle 46. The fluid will pass through the transition region 44, having a cross section as indicated in the lower part of FIG. 5, where the central portion of the stream is gradually deflected still further downward and the sideward portions of the stream are simultaneously deflected inwardly to form a rectangular jet with vertical orientation of its major axis.

The nozzle 46 may have a slightly greater cross section than the nozzle 25 to accommodate the slight additional fluid injected through the control port 29, as well as to allow for the slightly diminished jet velocity that results from friction losses in the transistion section 44.

The mechanical linkage 74 between the valve 69 and the plunger 42 of the valve 32 operates to synchronize the movements of these valves so that when the port 4 1 is closed, the pipes 65 and 66 will be connected to the pipes 91 and 92, and similarly when the port is closed the pipes 87 and 88 will be connected to the pipes 91 and 92.

Thus, under the conditions previously assumed for forward drive the openings 63 and 64 will he in communication through the pipes 65 and 66with the steering ports 95' and 95 of the steering control valve 93 which is now arranged so that either of the ports 95 and 96 may be opened while the other is closed, or at intermediate positions both may be proportionately opened to the fluid supply connection 98, such as to the atmosphere.

The jet may be deflected toward either side wall 59 or 69 of the chamber 58, if the pressure on one side thereof is higher than that along the other side thereof and the jet will follow along the diverging wall portion and then be returned by the converging wall portion of the wall 59 or 60, in the manner described in the prior application Serial No. 195,242.

It has been found desirable however that the jet at the nozzle 46 be free ofentrained air and this is accomplished by the use of liquid for control at the openings 29 and 33 as pointed out above.

Assume now that the port 41 of the valve 32 is open, the jet is caused to rise in an upward direction toward the upper reverse operation nozzle 45, and passes through the upper transition chamber 44 where the jet is reoriented trom a horizontally aligned to a vertically aligned rectangular cross section and discharges from the nozzle 45. Under these conditions the control openings 85 and 86 will be under the influence of the steering valve 93 and the jet will be directed to the starboard or port, somewhat in proportion to the relative amounts by which the ports .95 and 96 are closed. With these two ports 95 and 96 equally supplied with fluid or vented to the atmosphere the jet will divide equally at the divider 80 and will be directedby the passageways 81 and 33 to emerge through the openings 82 and 84, in a generally forward, sideward and downward direction to impart a reverse thrust to the boat B. The action at the steering nozzle is very similar to that the nozzle 46 and the jet will be deflected to the right or to the left in accordance with the opening of the steering valve 93 provided that air is not entrained in the stream. However air will be entrained unless the outlet opening from chamber 58 is submerged, thus there wil be no reverse steering action until the forward speed of the boat has been reduced below that required for planing. At lower forward speeds and in reverse the boat settles in the water so that the outlet from chamber 58 is submerged cutting off the supply of entrained air and permitting full effectiveness of the reverse steering controls.

By intermediate positioning of thevalve plunger 42 the fluid can be divided in its flow at the divider 54, with part of the fluid being delivered through the chamber 58 and part through the chamber 75 wherein the latter is further divided, to provide a neutral condition with no propulsion nor steering so that the boat B can be at rest with the pump 15 operating, for loading and unloading the boat and for engine testing and tuning.

We claim:

1. Steering apparatus for controlling the thrust jet of a jet propelled vehicle comprising a first nozzle, connec tions for supplying liquid under pressure from a source to said nozzle to form a thrust jet, an interaction chamber for receiving the liquid discharged from said nozzle, a first control port connection communicating with said chamber at a point near the entrance of the thrust jet from said nozzle, said control port connection communicating with a source of liquid under pressure, manual valve means inter-posed in said control liquid connection, two passageways for receiving the thrust jet liquid from said chamber, each passageway being provided sequentially with a nozzle and an interaction chamber, second control port connections for controlling the direction of said thrust jet liquid as it leaves said chamber in said passageways, said second control port connections having manually operable control means for selectively communicating said second control ports with the atmosphere.

2. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzles each has a substantially rectangular cross section with one axis longer than the other, the major axis of said first nozzle being at right angles to the major axis of both said second nozzles.

3. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein a shaped transition section is provided betwen said first nozzle and said second nozzles, said transition section changes shape in a gradual manner from a substantially rectangular cross section having its major axis in one plane to a substantially rectangular cross section having its major axis at right angles to said first section.

4. Steering apparatus for a liquid jet propelled vehicle comprising a first nozzle, a fluid inter-action chamber connected thereto, a second pair of nozzles to which said chamber discharges, each of the nozzles of the pair having an interaction chamber into which it discharges, one of said pair of nozzles and associated interaction chamber discharging the jet liquid to impart a forward thrust to said vehicle, the other nozzle of said pair being arranged to discharge the jet liquid for applying reverse thrust to the vehicle, said nozzles having an elongated cross section with the major axis of the first nozzle substantially at right angles to the major axis of said pair of nozzles, a transition passageway connecting said firstnozzle to said pair of nozzles, said transition passageway having a gradually changing cross section for accepting the discharge from the first of said nozzles and reorienting it for alignment with said pair of nozzles, a fluid connection between said first nozzle and a source of pressure liquid to provide said thrust jet, and means for supplying control fluid to said interaction chambers for selectively diverting the flow of said thrust jet liquid.

5. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the fluid interaction chamber of the first nozzle is provided with a control opening connected by a passageway to the said source of pressure fluid and said passageway has manually controllable valve means therein for varying the restriction between said control opening and said source. I

6.-Steering apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the vehicle is a boat.

7. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the major axis of the cross section of the first nozzle is horizontally oriented.

8. The steering apparatus as defined in claim 7 where-.

in the interaction chamber of said reverse thrust nozzle has a pair of recurved outlets connected thereto.

9. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 7 wherein the flow axis of the forward thrust steering nozzle is approximately aligned with the fiow axis of said first nozzle and the flow axis of the reverse thrust steering nozzle is elevated above the fiow axis of said first nozzle, said first nozzle being provided with approach surfaces having an upward bias.

' 10. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the interaction chambers associated with said pair of nozzles have control openings communicating through passageways with the atmosphere, and manually operable valve members are provided in said passageways for varying the restriction between said openings and the atrnosphere.

11. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein said last mentioned passageways have additional manually operable valve members for selectively connecting said last passageways to said first manually operable valve members.

12. Steering apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein the cross section of said pasageway comprises two superimposed rectangular sections with their major axes normal to each other and wherein the major axis of one said sections increases while the major axis of the other of said sections decreases so as to maintain a constant total cross section area.

13. Apparatus for controlling the thrust jet of a liquid jet propelled vehicle comprising a first nozzle, a fluid interaction chamber connected to said first nozzle, said inter-action chamber being provided with fluid control port connections for controlling the direction of the thrust jet leaving said chamber in one plane, a second pair of nozzles situated on said plane to alternately receive the flow from said chamber, each of said pair of nozzles discharging into its own fluid interaction chamber, said second chambers being arranged to control the direction of the thrust jet in planes approximately at right angles to first plane, one of said pair of chambers being arranged for discharging liquid to impart a reverse thrust to said vehicle, the other of said pair of chambers being arranged for discharging liquid to im part a forward thrust to said vehicle, said pair of charm bers each being provided with fluid control port connections for controlling the discharge direction of the thrust jet liquid.

14. Apparatus as defined in claim 13 wherein said first plane is substantially vertically oriented and wherein the nozzle and chamber for reverse thrust is situated above the nozzle and chamber for forward thrust.

15. Apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein a common source provides the thrust liquid for said first nozzle and also the control fluid for said first nozzle, the control fluid for said second pair of nozzles is atmospheric air, and one of said second pair of nozzles has a sufficiently small cross sectional area so that it cannot accept the entire liquid stream issuing from said first nozzle.

16. Apparatus as defined in claim 15 wherein said vehicle is a boat, the outlet from the forward thrust chamber is below the water line of said boat when said boat is at rest or in reverse or traveling at low forward speeds.

17. Apparatus as defined in claim 13 wherein the control port connections to said first chamber are connected to a source of pressure liquid, the forward nozzle is partially aligned with the axis of said first nozzle whereby it will receive substantially the entire stream from said first nozzle when all of the control port connections to said first chamber are closed from communicating with said pressure liquid.

18. Apparatus as defined in claim 16 wherein the reverse thrust nozzle is out of alignment with said first nozzle by an amount sufficient to decrease the percentage of flow to said reverse thrust nozzle for the higher values of total fiow through said first nozzle.

19. Apparatus as defined in claim 16 having a divider separating the flow of liquid from said first chamber into an upper portion for reverse thrust and a lower portion for forward thrust, said divider being close.

enough to said first nozzle so that the total stream cannot be diverted entirely to one side of the divider unless the one of said pair of nozzles on the other side of said divider is filled with liquid.

References Cited by the Examiner- UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,825,204 5/1958 Kadosch et al. 35.54 X 2,952,123 9/1960 Rich 60-3554 3,016,063 1/1962 Hausman 137-81.5 3,204,405 9/ 1965 Warren et al. 6035.54 3,206,928 9/1965 Moore 60-35.54

MARK NEWMAN, Primary Examiner.

A. L. SMITH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. STEERING APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE THRUST JET OF A JET PROPELLED VEHICLE COMPRISING A FIRST NOZZLE, CONNECTIONS FOR SUPPLYING LIQUID UNDER PRESSURE FROM A SOURCE TO SAID NOZZLE TO FORM A THRUST JET, AN INTERACTION CHAMBER FOR RECEIVING THE LIQUID DISCHARGED FROM SAID NOZZLE, A FIRST CONTROL PORT CONNECTION COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CHAMBER AT A POINT NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF THE THRUST JET FROM SAID NOZZLE, SAID CONTROL PORT CONNECTION COMMUNICATING WITH A SOURCE OF LIQUID UNDER PRESSURE, MANUAL VALVE MEANS INTERPOSED IN SAID CONTROL LIQUID CONNECTION, TWO PASSAGEWAYS FOR RECEIVING THE THRUST JET LIQUID FROM SAID CHAMBER, EACH PASSAGEWAY BEING PROVIDED SEQUENTIALLY WITH A NOZZLE AND AN INTERACTION CHAMBER, SECOND CONTROL PORT CONNECTION FOR CONTROLLING THE DIRECTION OF SAID THRUST JET LIQUID AS IT LEAVES SAID CHAMBER IN SAID PASSAGEWAYS, SAID SECOND CONTROL PORT CONNECTIONS HAVING MANUALLY OPERABLE CONTROL MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY COMMUNICATING SAID SECOND CONTROL PORTS WITH THE ATMOSPHERE. 